Allowing users to opt-out of Internet tracking is a concept with many backers, but no clear path to execution and widespread misunderstanding. Earlier this year FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz proposed a "Do Not Track" list analogous to the phone-based "Do Not Call" list, ignoring the fact that identity on the Internet is much less concrete than a single phone number. Indeed, many approaches to Do Not Track require extensive sharing of personal information to allow sites to know who not to track.

Attempts to block out all these technologies could cause as many problems as they solve. According to the WSJ story, Mozilla had previously considered such a tool but abandoned it because they feared an arms race, in which tracking firms would resort to ever-sneakier mechanisms.

The article says that Mozilla and online advertising company Lotame Solutions Inc. will appear on a panel this week to discuss how industry could develop a Do Not Track mechanism and forestall mandates for one from government. One possibility, suggested by donottrack.us, uses an HTTP header, putting the onus on sites to honor the request not to track. While it would have to be added to browsers, this method has the benefit of simplicity, although it depends on the honors system in a world where not everyone is honorable. In some browsers it can be added with an extension.

It's not just technical work that has to be done in this matter. If there is going to be an easy mechanism to opt out of tracking and it becomes popular, it will affect the economics of content on the web. Free contentthis web site includedwill be a more difficult business proposition. Users need to understand that before they pull the trigger on their Do Not Track feature.

About the Author

Larry Seltzer has been writing software for and English about computers ever sincemuch to his own amazementhe graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1983.
He was one of the authors of NPL and NPL-R, fourth-generation languages for microcomputers by the now-defunct DeskTop Software Corporation. (Larry is sad to find See Full Bio

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